Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 May;197(5):298-304.
doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181a206cc.

Parenting an adult child with bipolar disorder in later life

Kelly A Aschbrenner  1 , Jan S Greenberg, Marsha M Seltzer
Affiliations

Parenting an adult child with bipolar disorder in later life

Kelly A Aschbrenner et al. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2009 May.

Abstract

This study extends prior research on family caregiving in mental illness by investigating late-life parenting of adult children with bipolar disorder using a randomly selected community-based sample. The health and mental health, psychological well-being, marriage, work-life, and social resources of 145 parents of adult children with bipolar disorder were examined when parents were in their mid-60s. Stratified random sampling procedures were used to select a comparison group whose children did not have disabilities. Results indicate that parents of adult children with bipolar disorder had a more compromised profile of health and mental health, and experienced more difficulties in marriage and work-life than comparison parents. Furthermore, parents of adult children with bipolar disorder who were diagnosed with mental illness before the onset of their child's symptoms were more vulnerable on multiple dimensions of mental health, psychological well-being, and work-life than parents without a preexisting mental illness.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Carpenter WT, Strauss JS. The prediction of outcome in schizophrenia: IV. Eleven-year follow-up of the Washington IPSS cohort. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1991;179:517–525. - PubMed
    1. Chen FP, Greenberg JS. A positive aspect of caregiving: The influence of social support on caregiving gains for family members of Relatives with Schizophrenia. Community Ment Health J. 2004;40:423–435. - PubMed
    1. Clark RE, Drake RE. Expenditures of time and money by families of people with severe mental illness and substance use disorders. Community Ment Health J. 1994;30:145–163. - PubMed
    1. Coryell W, Solomon D, Turvey C, Keller M, Leon AC, Endicott J, Schettler P, Judd L, Mueller T. The long-term course of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60:914–920. - PubMed
    1. Dore G, Romans SE. Impact of bipolar affective disorder on family and partners. J Affect Disord. 2001;67:147–158. - PubMed

Publication types